Maslow's
Kensington
A concrete shell, reimagined into a members' House where wellbeing is built into the architecture of the working day.
It began as a concrete shell
Set across the ground and first floors of The Kensington Building, designed by Pilbrow & Partners, the future home of Maslow's was defined by volume and light: soaring ceilings, exposed services and vast windows overlooking Kensington High Street and Wright's Lane. The architecture possessed a quiet confidence — generous, contemporary and filled with possibility.
For Mehrai Design, the opportunity lay not in altering the architecture, but in shaping the experience of it. Beyond the building's reception, Maslow's needed its own identity, its own rhythm and its own sense of arrival.
A sweeping staircase became the organising gesture of the scheme, connecting a newly introduced mezzanine with the floors above and below. Around it, circulation was carefully considered to create a natural flow through the House, linking places to work, meet, pause and gather. Rather than treating art, planting and hospitality as additions, they were woven into the experience from the outset, helping transform an open shell into a House designed around the lives of its residents.
Wellbeing, built into the architecture
The brief was to create a members' House where wellbeing is embedded into the architecture itself, rather than treated as an additional amenity. The project was designed around how people focus, connect, move, recover and spend their time across a day — so every decision began with human behaviour rather than decoration.
An early reference set the tone. The Italian basalt flooring of The Kensington Building's reception was extended into Maslow's, creating a seamless transition between building and House and introducing a subtle Milanese sensibility. From it grew the influence of la Dolce Vita — understood here less as a style than as an atmosphere and a way of thinking, one that shaped the warmth, hospitality, materiality and social character of the interiors.
Scale, balanced with intimacy
Every Maslow's House has its own personality. Kensington's comes from the way it balances scale with intimacy. Where the other Houses unfold across a series of smaller floors, Kensington occupies two expansive open floorplates — and rather than breaking that openness apart, the design embraces it, creating a sequence of experiences that unfold naturally throughout the day.
The ground floor is anchored by Maslow's reception, Oria Café, the Gallery and Pied à Terre, creating opportunities to gather, work and connect. Above, the Living Room, Den, gym and studio sit alongside meeting rooms, studies, phone booths and shared kitchens. Residents choose how they work, move and spend their time, shifting easily between focus, conversation, wellbeing and retreat — the floorplates operating almost as a continuous loop.
Natural light, planting and carefully curated artworks soften the scale of the building and create moments of pause throughout the day. Despite its size, Kensington never feels overwhelming. Instead, it offers a series of intimate experiences within a larger whole — a House that evolves from morning coffee and focused work to evening events and gatherings, while always feeling connected.
Lead interior design, end to end
Lead Design
From concept through to developed and detail design, Mehrai Design led the scheme — specifying every piece of furniture, fixture and equipment, alongside bespoke feature lighting crafted for the House.
Design Guardian
Mehrai Design continued as Design Guardian through to completion, safeguarding the vision on site — protecting the intent through detailing, delivery and final styling.
Rooted in its setting
The surrounding architecture became an important reference point throughout the design process. The rhythm of the mansion-block façades, the repetition of arches and keystones, warm brickwork, dark iron railings and the mature trees beyond informed both palette and materiality.
Terracotta, earthy neutrals and deep mulled-wine tones were drawn directly from the streetscape outside, creating an interior that feels rooted in its setting rather than imposed upon it.
Mirrors were carefully positioned to extend views and pull the changing landscape deeper into the plan. As the seasons shift and daylight moves across the floorplates, the atmosphere subtly changes with it.
Planned around how people actually work
Every planning decision was informed by how people move through a working day — how they focus and concentrate, how they meet and collaborate, how they socialise and connect, and how they recover, restore and transition between modes. The result is a plan that supports cognitive performance and emotional comfort in equal measure, drawing on principles of sensory wellbeing rather than visual effect.
Flow & Movement
Curved spaces are read as calmer and lower cortisol, guiding people intuitively and encouraging the small movements that aid recovery through the day.
Curved Comfort
Softer edges create welcoming, inclusive settings that invite people together and support genuine social connection.
Soft Divisions
Gentle separation reduces visual noise and cognitive load, holding focus without isolating people from the life of the House.
Light & Daylight
Natural light, prioritised deep into the plan, regulates energy and lifts mood across the working day.
Balanced Soundscapes
Tuned with acoustic specialists Sandy Brown so concentration, conversation and quiet can coexist — comfort you feel rather than notice.
A Sense of Place
Layered, sensory materiality marks the shift between modes and roots members in a place that feels unmistakably their own.
A palette designed to activate, yet calm
Warm terracotta and aubergine energise, while earthy oats and chalky grounds settle and calm — colour used as a tool for mood, focus and connection.
Deliberately collected, not decorated
The interiors are deliberately collected rather than decorated. Bespoke furniture sits alongside restored vintage finds, feature lighting and carefully curated objects, creating spaces that feel layered and lived-in from the outset. Influenced by the project's nod to la Dolce Vita, many pieces were salvaged or given a second life, while bespoke elements were designed and crafted in the UK.
The familiar mid-century modern sensibility found throughout the Maslow's Houses remains, but here it is reinterpreted through a Kensington lens — blending Italian influences, vintage character and contemporary craftsmanship into an interior that feels both timeless and individual.
The result is a House with a sense of permanence: warm, tactile and quietly connected to its surroundings.
Art as a tool for curiosity and conversation
Art was treated as an intentional layer, not a finishing flourish. Original works, commissioned pieces and objects by artists and makers are placed to spark curiosity, prompt conversation and reward a second look.
Storytelling runs through the objects themselves — each carrying a narrative that connects members to the building, to Kensington and to one another. The result is a creative culture you move through, building over time into the wider Maslow's story.
Tactile surfaces, technology concealed
Tertiary layers of lighting — shelf glows, table lamps and concealed sources — were tuned to soften the volume and let the House dim gently into the evening, never flattening a space with a single overhead wash.
Woven tapestries and textile panels were used to absorb sound and conceal the modern technology behind them — screens, acoustic treatment and servicing tucked out of sight, while every contemporary capability remains fully in reach.
Against them, curated books, collected objects and layered planting bring warmth and narrative to each shelf — details chosen to be lived with, read and returned to over time.
Touchpoints to slowly discover
The design borrows quiet moments from the other Maslow's Houses — a detail here, a material echo there — nods to the design thread that runs between them all. Small touchpoints that members uncover over time, becoming part of the collective consciousness of the Maslow's brand: a sense of belonging to something larger than a single House.
Sustainability sat inside the design process, not beside it. Existing elements were retained and adapted wherever the shell allowed; materiality stayed as close to natural as possible — honest stone, timber and fibre over synthetic substitute. Many pieces were sourced vintage, salvaged or restored rather than bought new, bespoke elements were fabricated locally in the UK, and procurement was handled responsibly with a cradle-to-cradle life in mind: chosen to be repaired, reused and returned, not discarded. The work sits within a building of genuine credentials — BREEAM Excellent, naturally ventilated, with measured, efficient services. Considered design, made to endure.
Wellbeing as infrastructure, not amenity
Maslow's Kensington belongs to a wider evolution of work — the rise of the hospitality-led workplace, where wellbeing is built into the fabric of a space rather than offered as a perk. It treats community and belonging as design problems worth solving, and human-centred environments as the new measure of a workplace.
It is a model for what comes next: places designed less around desks and more around people, and the full range of how they live a working day.
A closer look, room by room
The vision, held end to end by Mehrai Design
From first sketch to final styling, Mehrai Design led the creative vision for Maslow's Kensington, shaping everything from the spatial framework and material palette to the art, furniture and finer details that bring the House to life.
The project was realised through close collaboration with a network of specialist consultants and makers — including Thirdway Interiors for technical design and construction, with the FF&E procurement by Dodds & Shute, and art procurement, styling and creative collaboration by Studio Mercy. Together, these contributions helped shape a rich and layered environment, guided by a shared commitment to the project's original design narrative.
Led by Mehrai Design, delivered with a team of specialist consultants and makers.